How is it that cheeseburgers consumed by Americans have a larger carbon footprint than all the SUVs in America? And how can we play our part in stopping climate change?
These are the questions being posed in the special Six Degrees Could Change Our World airing on the National Geographic Channel February 24th at 7 p.m. The documentary, featuring British author Mark Lynas and other notable climate experts, explores what effect each rise of 1ºC could have on the world and what must be done to reduce the threat.
Some predictions include:
- At 2ºC higher: Greenland's glaciers and some of the lower lying islands begin to disappear.
- At 3ºC higher: Ice would no longer be found in the Arctic during the summer months, the Amazon rainforest would suffer a devastating drought, and extreme weather patterns would become frequent.
- At 4ºC higher: Oceans rise dramatically causing extreme flooding.
- At 5ºC higher: What scientists call the "twilight zone" of climate change, temperate regions could become uninhabitable, leading humans to battle each other for the world's dwindling resources.
- At 6ºC higher: Scientists call this the "doomsday scenario" because oceans become marine wastelands, deserts expand and catastrophic events become commonplace.
As if that wasn't disturning enough, a video clip has been released to promote the new special, and it depicts a future news broadcast of New York City underwater:
As a New York resident, I shouldn't be surprised to see my city in such horrific conditions – isn't someone or something always destroying the Big Apple? – but this scenario is much more terrifying because of how likely it is to happen. And I have to give props to National Geographic for putting together such a creative marketing campaign for Six Degrees Could Change Our World.
Scary? Yes. Am I going to watch the special? Definitely.
